Sustainable Schoo

1. 1
What do kids do during their recess?

2. Children are full of
curiosity...
2

3. There
is
so
much
to
learn
3
The environment surrounds them and there is so much to learn...

4. kids donÜt seem to mind asphalt playgrounds...
and they are easier to maintain
4
kids don’t seem to mind asphalt playgrounds...
and they are easier to maintain

5. hopscotch
has
been
around
forever...
5
Sometimes you just have to work with what you have. Hopscotch has been around forever.

6. how
about
some
chalk
art
6

7. Kids are
very resourceful
7

8. they find things to do together
8

9. but
kids
spend
a lot
of time
on the
playground...
9
But after months of being on the same playground, a place that doesn’t change much with
the seasons...

10. After
a while
they
get
bored...
10
kids get bored.

11. whatÜs under this stuff...
11

12. probably something like this
12

13. Consider removing
some of that asphalt
13
How do we raise our kids’ awareness of their environment?

14. school gardens nationwide
14
When I started to research other programs, I was so surprised to see how many schools have
their own school garden program...

15. school gardens nationwide
15
there was page after page of school garden programs

16. school gardens nationwide
16

17. sustainable
schoolyard
seattle
Growing a Healthy Future
17
 Sustainable Schoolyard Seattle will enhance students’ awareness and appreciation of health,
nutrition and community by teaching children to grow, prepare, share, and eat nourishing food.
 This non profit will enhance student's local and regional environmental awareness. It will give them
an understanding of responsible stewardship. What does that mean in this case? One example is to
have SandPoint Elementary keep some of their natural resources on-site by harvesting rainwater to
support native plantings and treating storm water runoff in rain gardens.

18. Growing a
healthy future
for people and
the planet,
one school garden
at a time
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Our vision is growing ---

19. Our goal is...
Education
19
Seattle actually has less rain than a lot of other major US cities.
Did you know in just one teaspoon of soil, there are as many bacteria as there are people on the planet, somewhere in the neighborhood of five billion bacteria!
Our goal is education

20. Our goal is...
Stewardship
20
Demonstrating Stewardship
 Urban agriculture
 Rain gardens
 Native plantings

21. Our goal is...
Health
21
Growing Health
 Health education
 Nutrition education
 Providing organic produce to students, their families, and their community
 Teaching basic food preparation skills and last but not least
 Reducing summer hunger

22. Our goal is...
Community
22
Nurturing Community
 Community building - garden events
 Volunteer opportunities
 Partnerships – businesses, non-profits, families
 Fundraising and outreach - community supported agriculture (CSA) program and farmers markets. Wouldn’t that be neat if the students could sell
some of their produce at the local farmer’s market?!!
 Service - donations to food banks and charitable food organizations

23. Our goal is...
Community
23
 Volunteer opportunities
 Partnerships – businesses, non-profits, families
 Fundraising and outreach - community supported agriculture (CSA) program and farmers markets. Wouldn’t that be neat if the students could sell
some of their produce at the local farmer’s market?!!
 Service - donations to food banks and charitable food organizations

24. Sand Point Elementary
Social Responsibility, Global Perspective & Academic Excellence
...ThatÜs 4000 square feet of garden area!
24
Here is a diagram showing how a school garden program might work at SandPt Elem.
- The program can affect many different areas of the school.
- Children can learn about water run off on property and how to make a rain garden
- The children learn to take care of garden supplies. They could even keep an inventory of
supplies.
- They put on their own garden gloves and learn the difference between right and left.
- Children can learn about food preparation
- After getting involved in the garden planting they will probably enjoy learning more about
nutrition
- The raised bed for Sandpt could be as large as 4000 sq feet of garden area.

25. Rain Garden
Native Plantings
Keep the water on-site.
25
Rain gardens can demonstrate to the children and their parents the value of stewardship.
Even in a city you can make a difference.
So here is how a rain garden works...
(Julie goes in to detail)

26. Environmental Education
Cultivating Education
earthworms keep soil loose and fertile, which makes it easy for plants to grow.
26
Cultivating Education
 Integrated curriculum that meets state educational standards and academic expectations of school
 Hands-on, experiential, environmental education for students
 Training and support for teachers
 Curriculum materials and tools for the garden and classroom
 -

27. Raised beds
27
Here is an example of a raised bed. This is probably the most efficient way to set up and
teach children about gardening.

28. or large
container pots
28
but you could also do large container pots

29. School entrance, side yard or playground
Let the kids get their hands dirty!
29
The location of the garden is pretty flexible. It could be very visible at the school entrance or
in a side yard or the play ground. Let the kids get their hands dirty and have fun.

30. gloves keep the hands clean
and they learn which hand to put the glove on!
30
Here the kids are wearing gloves, which keeps their hands relatively clean

31. Next Steps
Form non-profit 501(c)3 organization.
Secure grant funding for:
Garden design and installation
Garden tools
Classroom tools
Teacher training
Lead gardener for each school
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
The next steps are to form a
 Form non-profit 501(c)3 organization
 Secure grant funding for:
 Garden design and installation
 Garden tools
 Classroom tools
 Teacher training
 Lead gardener for each school

32.  Funding: Seattle Foundation, Bullit Foundation,
others
 Curriculum: WSU-King County Extension
CHANGE (Cultivating Health and Nutrition
through Garden Education)
http://king.wsu.edu/nutrition/CHANGEintheschools.html
 Supplemental Curriculum: Life Lab
resources
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Here is a list of some of our possible resources

33. sustainable
schoolyard
seattle
Growing a Healthy Future
33

34. sustainable
schoolyard
seattle
Growing a Healthy Future
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